Colored Man Lynched

A white officer dies attempting to quiet “William Brooks, a well-known colored man was creating trouble.”

Elkins, W. Va., July 22.—Tonight the dead body of William Brooks (colored) swings from the limb of a tree in the city park here, the Chief of Police Robert Lily dies dying in a Cumberland (Md.) hospital from the effects of a bullet-wound inflicted by the colored man. This afternoon word was brought to the police station that William Brooks, a well-known colored man was creating trouble in the lower end of the town, and the aid of an officer to subdue him was asked. Chief of Police Robert Lily said he would go himself and bring the man in. When Brooks saw the officer coming, he started to run for the house, and by the time Lily had come to the house, which had a good-sized crowd surrounding it, and ordered the man to come out. Brooks came to the window of a front room with a gun. Officer Lily ordered him to surrender and come peacefully to the lockup. Brooks said that he would not go peaceably or any other way. Lily ran into the house for the colored man, the crowd outside made no offer to help and the officer faced the desperate man alone. Sounds of a fierce struggle could be heard, and the crowd that had gathered ran to home to help. When the room was […] both men were found on the floor in mortal combat. The colored man was shouting that he would not be taken alive, and the officer, silent but grim held him with a death-grip. Suddenly the colored man worked his right arm free from the grasp of the officer and catching up a revolver that had fallen to the floor in the struggle, fired a point-blank at the officer. Lily fell to the floor, shot through the stomach. When the officer released Brooks he, he broke from the room and ran, followed by a big crowd. For several squares he kept ahead of the crowd. Finally, after a chase of half a mile, Brooks was overtaken and captured. He fought desperately but could not get away. Other officers came to the rescue and with small ceremony Brooks was handed over to the Sheriff, to be taken to the city jail. Just as the Sheriff reached the prison door and ordered the prisoner to walk into the jail a mob of men, at least 400 strong surrounded the officer and demanded the prisoner. The Sheriff refused and made desperate resistance but to no avail. Brooks was seized rushed through the streets, half walking and half falling along, towards the City Park. When the Park was reached the men who were leading Brooks told him to walk under a big tree in the center of the park, and prepare to die. The colored man could not speak and seemed almost insensible to what was going on. The rope was drawn up, and in a few minutes the body of William Brooks swung from the tree, lifeless. Then the mob dispersed. Officer Lily’s wounds are fatal. He is unable to talk, and give but small explanation of the trouble that led to the shooting. The body of Brooks, up to a late hour this evening, still hung in the park.

“Colored Man Lynched,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed September 14, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/813.